19th October,
2001
Car
jacks recalled – for a new label !
For
once, our sympathy
is with an auto manufacturer having to issue a recall notice – though
it took us a while to be convinced that this was serious in the first
place. Following consultation between Hyundai Automotive
Distributors Australia (HADA) and the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission, HADA is voluntarily recalling car jacks supplied
with all new Hyundais built for Australia from 1992 to 1998. The move affects Excel (including Panel Van),
Lantra, Sonata, S-Coupe and Coupe models built from August 1, 1992 to
January 31, 1998. Do
thousands of Hyundais around Australia have jacks lurking in their boots
that are ready to collapse? No, but they all need a new instruction
label… `Come on’ we thought, `it’s not April Fools’ Day.’ Ah, but the original labels never complied with
the relevant Australian Standard. Under AS 2693, the label must include
more complete details of the safe and correct use of a car jack -
including the bit about not getting under a jacked car unless vehicle
support stands are also used. The recall is strictly a labelling matter, there
is no issue with the actual capacity or operation of the jack supplied
with the cars – but it’s still going to cost HADA quite a bit of
folding stuff. It will shortly begin mailing owners of the
subject vehicles, requesting them to take their car to their nearest
authorized Hyundai dealership, where a new label will be affixed to the
jack at no cost to owners. To ensure this advice gets around, HADA will also
place advertisements in major newspapers around the time of the mailing
which will detail all relevant advice. It
all seemed a bit over-the-top for what is surely basic common sense –
don’t crawl under a car on a jack - but it probably falls in the same
category as the US legal action that was based on “the microwave oven
instructions didn’t say I can’t use it to dry my pet hamster,
so…”
|
